It has been another long day today and I must say the new graphics for BetterLetter are turning out to look just great. There's nothing like seeing your app go through changes you have always wanted.

There were quite a few decisions to be made regarding the new features that we are going to implement but it finally looks like that we have addressed most of them. For me, the most valuable takeaway was that there are three different sides of each app that you really must consider before making any kind of decisions: the development, the marketing and, of course, the user experience. The user's needs & preferences would be the obvious priority but its really striking a balance between all three sides that definitely drives progress of the app in the long run (lets see if this takeaway brings us more success ).

Its quite remarkable how much one can learn through each update/app being rolled out into the market. You can read up all you want but its definitely the hands-on experience that really gives you the most valuable insights. I'm hoping this awesome experience continues because, man, really want to get BetterLetter at the top of the charts! Wooh!

Wow. Things are getting pretty exciting! More themes in progress, more ways for the user to play with his/her friends, more languages and more words!

We're definitely getting into the christmas spirit with the redesigned christmas theme and I have to say our graphic designer is doing a tremendous job. Jingle all the way! Ok she might not agree, yet. :P But she really is sprucing the game up.

We decided against the auto post on facebook feature, thinking we might overwhelm the user with a facebook post each time he launches the app (sticking to our 'balancing is the way to go' strategy). Heh.
Its times like these when I really begin to wonder on how to crack the virality part of marketing an app (apart from making sure that its a great product, of course). Incentivise sharing on facebook & other media? Funny 'Well done!' messages to the user after each game? I guess that also depends on whether you would like to play against your own friends or random players via game center.
Personally, I would love to share on facebook if I totally destroyed a facebook friend on BetterLetter. Maybe, that's something to look into (I am assuming facebook sharing is the way to go viral. Twitter anyone?).

What do you guys think? Any tricks that have worked for you all in the past?

And finally, here is showcasing our designer's efforts on the Christmas & Valentine's Day themes. Thoughts?

This is just great! Our efforts are gaining more momentum and BetterLetter is up to #2 & #3 in Cambodia & Philippines respectively (in Education)! Also ranked #4 in Pakistan & Sri Lanka. This is exactly the kind of progress I was hoping for before we roll out the revamped version of the game.

It was hard for me to control my excitement at first when I saw the numbers but I soon realized these are only the first few steps towards getting the app to reach success. Our next target? Knock iTunes U off of its perch as the #1 app in Education (in almost all countries!). Yes we are! Well, we're definitely going to give it our full effort.

We finally did it! #1 in Pakistan & Cambodia! And now for the next step. In-App optimization. To get the user absolutely addicted.

Can I check what kind of in-app tracking you guys are using? Anything that works flawlessly according to you? Tracking has been a big issue for us and we have finally begun to cope with it, but, I still think we can go better. So what do you guys think?

Also, let us know if anyone would like us to share some of our marketing tactics. We're not the best in the business, yet, but would love to help out, spread the word and get everyone's apps going!

We're setting up the in-app purchases now and this is where I get so much into it. We really want to aim for the user to get absolutely addicted to our game. It really should be up to that level, in my opinion. So we had a good brainstorm session on what the user would really want while playing the game. And there it was! Get the user to keep wanting to play against the bot & friends and offer an extra edge by providing an extra life as an in-app purchase. Sounds straight forward enough?

Haha but as we all must have experienced till now, the idea can only be a success when we see the numbers coming in after the launch.

Just played Better Letter for the first time and have to say its pretty solid. Well done. One thing I don't get is how is chica a word? Even your definition says girl, which is the Spanish translation. Unlike words with friends where you don't get penalized for trying words that really aren't a part of the dictionary (up to users if they like that part of the game or not), how would you know in your game what slang or Spanish words or really 'made up words that words with friends allows' are acceptable until you try them, which means you lose a heart/get penalized? And the word 'uns?' What the heck is that!?

There are different dictionaries out there and the dictionary that we programmed into the game has a few extra accepted words. Actually, 'chica' is the perfect word to depict that. Some dictionaries accept it as a slang for 'girl' however, some do not recognize it as a proper English word. Which brings us to your next question: how does a user know which words are acceptable without losing a life.

For now, we deemed it (for many reasons while developing the game) as the rule of BetterLetter. Yes, users will find out the non-existent words the hard way but we thought it would be more fun that way. The 'Skip' feature actually allows you to pass on without losing a life.

Thanks again for taking the time. We would love more feedback!

Happy new year!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarcJay

Just played Better Letter for the first time and have to say its pretty solid. Well done. One thing I don't get is how is chica a word? Even your definition says girl, which is the Spanish translation. Unlike words with friends where you don't get penalized for trying words that really aren't a part of the dictionary (up to users if they like that part of the game or not), how would you know in your game what slang or Spanish words or really 'made up words that words with friends allows' are acceptable until you try them, which means you lose a heart/get penalized? And the word 'uns?' What the heck is that!?

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